“Yet even though the typical garment is only washed and dried around 20 times in its life, most of its environmental impact comes from laundering and not from growing, processing and producing the fabric or disposing of it at the end of its life. The washing and drying of a polyester blouse, for example uses around six times as much energy as that needed to make it in the first place.”

“Reuse of textile products ‘as is’ brings significant environmental savings. In the case of clothing for example, the energy used to collect, sort and resell second-hand garments is between 10 and 20 times less than that needed to make a new item.”

“Eliminating tumble drying (which accounts for 60 per cent of the use phase energy) and ironing, in combination with a lower washing temperature, has been calculated to lead to a around 50 per cent reduction in total energy consumption of the product.”

” . . . recycling on its own will never bring big change. It is ultimately a transition strategy; useful while society is transformed into something more socially aware and less energy intensive.” p107.

“An industry goal of zero waste would transform the textile industrial system at the level of a paradigm.” p108.

“A zero-waste vision for the fashion and textile sector changes the goals and rules of the bigger industrial system and aligns them with sustainability. It requires a bold and innovative set of changes to the way our fibres and fabrics (as a part of society at large) are designed, produced, consumed, and discarded. It requires a reformulation of design priorities based around ideas of cycles where waste is reconceived as a useful, essential, and valuable component of another product’s future life.” p 113.

“While fashion is at the heart of our culture and important to our relationships, our aesthetic desires and identity, the fashion and textile sector’s lack of attention to moral and environmental issues is socially and ecologically undermining.” p118.

“On the one hand we have to celebrate fashion as a significant and magical part of our culture (while divorcing it from rampant material consumption). And on the other we have to produce clothes that are based on values, on skill, on carefully produced fibres; clothes that are conscientious, sustainable and beautiful.” p120.

“We are part of the natural world, not separate from it, and have a shared path with reciprocal actions: while we impact hard on nature, nature also influences us. Giving form to this connectedness and reciprocity us a key part of sustainable fashion.” p126.

“The average T-shirt travels the equivalent distance of once around the globe during its production.”

Recently I was inspired by an organic cotton top I saw on ModCloth to create this set on Polyvore.

Whether you’re picnicking in the park, biking down the street, or strolling at the mall, this set lets you express the softer side of this summer’s mood. A pretty, floral top in organic cotton by Right By Nature from ModCloth pairs perfectly with ISDA & Co‘s Micro 26″ pant designed in San Francisco. Frilly and fun sustainable design exists!